The "Xbox Games" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
For the past few days I’d been deliberating whether to get a new PC, mainly because my PII 350 had seen better days, it ran fine, but I really wanted to explore the broadband aspect of gaming. However, PC games haven’t ever really been my cup-of-tea, so I couldn’t justify to myself in spending ex-amount of pounds on an expensive set-up, especially for something that would cost me in the vicinity of £20 to do.
I’d been toying with the idea of setting up my PC to allow me to play Halo over the Internet. I don’t know why I hadn’t done it sooner. Lack of time maybe, but believe me, I’m still kicking myself for leaving it far too long. So, after dropping the missus off to work, over to Maplin’s I went, where I picked up another Network Card and a 5m RJ45 crossover cable, which cost me £18 in all.
The minute I got in, the PC was taken apart, the WinTV card that once populated a PCI slot, was removed and the additional Network Card was installed with the minimum of fuss. Fired up the PC, connected the crossover cable to the relevant components. Once, ME had detected and installed the new piece of hardware, I launched the Xbconnect program, which located my Xbox seamlessly.
I found a game on the program, connected up and begun reliving the Halo experience all over again. For some reason, it felt that little bit better, maybe because you were playing against another human being situated elsewhere in the world and you weren’t competing against a computer-controlled bot.
Team work was the name of the game I entered, myself and a Halo community clan member teamed up on the Gulch stage, which allowed all type’s of vehicles (with the exception of the Banshee). Tactics were the order of the day here, even though communication was sparse; it was down to our instincts and initiative to communicate. I took control of a Warthog, whilst my team-mate, manned the gun, whilst we searched for our opponents, once found, we quickly fled the Warthog since we were sitting ducks to an opponent armed with a Rocket Launcher, we both flanked the opposition from either side and reigned fire on them. It was then when I took control of the tank, which is a devastating weapon to use and quickly laid waste to our opponents. It was then when I had set up camp up high in the rocky outskirts of the stage with a sniper rifle, whilst my team-mate lured them into a visible position where I could get two clean head-shots off.
I could go on all day about the experience I had with Halo online. Yes, it is absolutely amazing in the single-player scenario, but, by gum, get it online and you relive it over and over and over again.
So Broadband owners don’t pass up an opportunity like I did, the longer you wait, the longer you are cheating yourself.
> can anyone reccommend a adsl/broadband service? ive been looking
> around but havnt seen much below £25 a month
Pipex ADSL(512k) is £23.44 a month. Others like BT and Freeserve are £29.99.
> Yes, xbconnect is miles better. No adverts, No Rubbish
>
>
> http://www.xbconnect.com
Yeah thats the one. Iam going to use that once I get my NIC and cable. Have had my ADSL since June 22nd so iam already to go :).
http://www.xbconnect.com
There are usually loads of Americans (who you can't play against due to the PAL/NTSC thing) but enough Europeans so that finding a game/opponent doesn't take long.
I'm guessing that it would be your Broadband server or is it the company who made the "Xbox - PC" chip/card/thing?
Could be especially useful seeing as MS are charging a subscription for their online service (that comes out soon-ish).